


I like the sound of your voice.

by FifthLegionFulminata



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: And Librarian Hilbert, I don't know what I'm doing, I'm awful at tagging, M/M, Olga is alive in this one, This AU has a deaf Eiffel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 08:19:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12229104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FifthLegionFulminata/pseuds/FifthLegionFulminata
Summary: Eiffel's deaf, and Hilbert is a Librarian. Theres a lot of texting in this fic.





	1. Chapter 1

Hospitals sucked, in a general sense. They were creepy to Eiffel, especially given that he could only hear that people were talking, not what they were talking about, no matter how close he got to them. It made him feel like he was in a horror movie with ghosts murmuring just out of hearing on all sides. But he had to go every six months or so in order to make sure that his bionics were functioning properly and to do another hearing test to see if it had deteriorated further since the last time, so, here he was, stuck in this horror movie and bored out of his fucking mind. He’s stuck sitting next to the nurses’ station, trying not to tap his foot impatiently as he waits for someone to bring him to his specialist when the door to a patient’s room is left open by a busy and distracted nurse. He can just barely see into it, which he’s pretty sure is a privacy violation or something, but he’s too curious not to stare and see whats going on.

He can’t see the patient whose laying out of sight, but he can see their visitor. They’re a man, older than him with graying dark red hair and a beard to match, both cut short to tame it. He’s sitting at the foot of the bed, his legs stretched out towards whoever is out of sight, and he’s got his arms crossed except for an occasional strange gesture. Eiffel realizes with a start that whoever he is he’s signing, but its gibberish to him. Either way, Eiffel can’t look away from the expression of affection and happiness on his face as he looks at them, or the way he smiles and seems to roll his eyes at something they said. ‘I’m absolutely not being creepy, the nurse left the door open and as a deaf person I’m automatically interested in sign. Yep. Thats what I’ll tell them. Ah, shit, he smiled again, son of a bitch. My heart can’t handle this, he’s too good-looking. No, wait! Leave it open! How am I supposed to creep on him if I can’t see him?!’ He tries to act casual when the nurse notices she left the door open and closes it but he’s crushed.

He complains to Hera about it when he gets home, being significantly more melodramatic when he signs than usual. “And he was so handsome, Hera, I’m serious, it’s like it’s not even fair how handsome he was. But then the nurse shut the door! Like! What was she even thinking?!” Hera’s expression is deadpan. “Oh no, she shut the door? She probably thought, 'This creep is infringing on their privacy, lets put a stop to that.” “That is uncalled for, and I don’t like your tone.” She laughs then, breaking her expression. “Can you even have tone in sign? I guess so, cause you’re being melodramatic.” Eiffel crosses his arms, ending the conversation with a pout, and Hera laughs again. “Come on, don’t be like that. You wanna go get pizza?” His desire to give her the cold shoulder dies immediately, and he’s already halfway out the door when she finally catches up to him. They walk to a pizzeria near their apartment on campus, and Eiffel’s pretty glad that its close by, cause by the time he’s done eating all he wants to do is nap. Hera stops him from sleeping on the table by getting his attention. “Hey, I gotta go by the library to pick up a book for class. Wanna come with me?” He shrugs, and she takes that as a yes, paying for their meal and strolling arm in arm to the lone building that stands almost dead-center among all the other buildings. Eiffel peels himself off her arm while she goes to find her book to go say hi to Maxwell, who works as the IT support for the library.

She looks a little tired when she looks up, but she smiles when she sees him. “Hey, Eiffel. Hows it goin? How was the doctor’s?” He grins back. “You know, the usual. 'Eiffel, your hearing is shit and you’re missing appendages. Nothing changed.’ But it wasn’t all bad. There was this reeeeally good-looking guy, so I got some eye candy before I had to go get poked and prodded for an hour. What about you?” Maxwell sighs, scrubbing her hand through her thick chestnut brown hair and leaving it tangled and messy. Eiffel fixes it while she signs. “Well, the new librarian just got in last week from Russia, and he seems a little… angry. Like, all the time. He’s polite, don’t get me wrong, he just frowns constantly.” Eiffel looks thoughtful for a moment before asking, “Do you think its because he just moved? I’m sure thats difficult.” She nods, sighing again. “Yeah, I’ve been giving him slack cause of that, but its hard not to think he hates you when he’s always glaring. He’s super efficient, though. Oh. Speak of the devil.” He notices that she’s swapped from just signing while mouthing her words to actually talking, her voice like sounding like a conversation behind a door to him. “Hey, Dmitri.” Eiffel turns in surprise and has to keep himself from freaking out. Its the guy from earlier, obviously just getting back from his visit at the hospital and looking at them curiously, frowning a little. “Eiffel,” she has to rap on the desk he’s leaning against for support to get his attention, “this is Dmitri Volodin. Dmitri, this is Douglas Eiffel, a friend of mine. He’s deaf, we met in ASL 1 a few years ago.” Dmitri is making eye contact with Maxwell while she signs, taking her by surprise, and Eiffel feels his heart pound a little when he finally speaks while Maxwell translates for him. His voice- even though Eiffel can’t understand his words- is low and a little rough to his ears, so different from what he’s used to that it makes him feel giddy. “I see. My younger sister is deaf. Tell me, what does this mean to you?” He raises his right hand to his lips then lays it flat out infront of him before clasping his hands together, making Eiffel blush and Maxwell laugh. “It means good marriage to us, but something else in RSL?” He nods, frowning more and looking at Eiffel strangely. “It means nice to meet you. Well, regardless. I must get to work.” He leaves, walking into his office and shutting the door, and Eiffel immediately turns to Maxwell, flustered. “Why didn’t you tell me he was the guy from before??? Did you not notice how gorgeous he is? Maxwell, you have to warn me!” She looks confused before cracking up. “Thats the guy? How was I supposed to know, stupid, you didn’t even describe him!” Eiffel stomps his foot in frustration. “Thats not the point! Ugh, his beauty is wasted on you anyway. Heraaa!” He turns when Hera walks up to the desk to get her books. “That guy, the guy I was telling you about, the amazing guy, he works here! With Maxwell! Who can’t even appreciate him!” She takes a second to process his dramatic hand movements but looks curiously at Maxwell. “Does he really? Eiffel’s been drooling over him since he got home, what a small world.” “Yeah, he does. His name is Dmitri, he just came from Russia like a week ago. He looks angry all the time, I dunno what the big deal is.” Eiffel throws his hands up in the air in disgust then walks away to pout next to the entrance.

Hera and Maxwell talk quietly for a moment before Hera finally gets Eiffel and leaves. Its hard for Eiffel to sign and walk, so he waits till they get home before bemoaning Maxwell’s lack of taste to Hera until she has to go to class. He hates the fact that its almost a whole week before he can go to the library again, where he pretends to read in order to watch Dmitri work without feeling too creepy. He seems like the kind of guy to never dress casually, always wearing a professional-looking button-up dress shirt and some sort of vest or sweater combo, which to Eiffel is the most adorable librarian outfit he’s ever seen, and after that second visit he spends all his freetime at the library. Its only after a month of trying to be sneaky that he actually interacts with Dmitri, whose notice it hadn’t escaped that Eiffel was there an awful lot. Eiffel’s holding up a book and glancing up every now and then when suddenly the object of his attention is standing over where he’s sitting at a desk. Eiffel waves weakly at him, smiling, and feels blood rush to his face when Dmitri gently takes the book he’s holding out of his hand, flipping it upright so its no longer upside down before handing it back to him with a sideways glance, walking away without a word. He’d be more embarrassed if he could stop thinking about how pretty his eyes are, but later when he’s in bed he buries his face into a pillow from mortification and screams internally.

The next day he’s there again, and the next, and the next, and finally Dmitri approaches him again with an almost irritated expression. He pulls out his phone and types for a second before showing the screen to Eiffel. “What do you want? You are here almost every day, but you never actually read anything.” Eiffel signs, having to get it off his chest even though he knows he can’t understand him, “I like you a lot and think you’re beautiful so I come here to see you but you have no clue what I’m saying so I’ll just write something down.” He types his reply on his own phone. “Didn’t mean to be creepy, sorry. I’ve been trying to get up the courage to talk to you, Maxwell mentioned you just came here from Russia and I thought you could use someone to talk to.” His reaction to Eiffel’s message makes his heart melt, he looks a little embarrassed and he flushes slightly as he frowns at his phone. “Ah. Well, it would be difficult given that I do not know sign, yes? How did you intend to overtake that particular barrier?” Eiffel grins and takes Dmitri’s phone, doing something quickly before he can even react and handing it back. Dmitri looks at his phone in bemusement, the display showing a new contact, “Eiffel :),” and again he seems kind of flustered. Eiffel is wondering if maybe he’s coming on a little too strong when his phone goes off, just one message: “Dmitri Volodin. Nice to meet you.” and he grins up at him before waving his phone a little as if to say he got it. Dmitri’s face flushes more as he glances at him sideways, leaving abruptly as Eiffel watches him, hoping his expression isn’t too openly lovesick.

He spends hours the next day trying to decide what to send him as a first text, scrapping one message in favor of another only to change his mind. Finally, Hera gets tired of his dithering and presses send without reading it.

[Eiffel :)] Good morning sunshine 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Alcoholism, abusive parents, car accidents.

It becomes a habit for Eiffel to greet Dmitri with something in sign, just to let off a little steam and see that heart-squeezingly cute look of confusion on his face. “You’re looking handsome as always. How was you day? How do you not notice how messy your hair is, geez.” Eiffel fixes it for him, and he accepts it with an embarrassed glance and long-suffering air. Eiffel pulls out his phone and shows him a pre-typed greeting. “Hey Dmitri, wanna go get lunch? Its gonna be ~pizza~! You know you wanna.” To his disappointment Dmitri shakes his head, taking out his own phone to type a quick reply. “No, sorry. Somethings come up and I’ll have to leave for the rest of the day at 12. Perhaps tomorrow.” Eiffel pouts visibly. “Whats so important?” “Its personal.” He acquiesces, trying not to sulk when Dmitri notices the time, 11:32, and says goodbye. He sends him a couple of texts throughout the rest of the day but gets no response, and Maxwell tells him that Dmitri’s taken a couple of days off when he goes to the library the next day. Hera tells him not to worry.

“I’m sure he’s fine, Eiffel. Really, theres a million reasons why he could be taking a few days off, and none of them are your business. Let the man be.” Eiffel tries, he tries really hard, but after almost an entire week he gets too worried and makes a plan to get Maxwell to help him find out why he’s been out. To his considerable surprise, however, Dmitri’s office door is partially open behind the circulation desk even though the lights inside are off. Maxwell intercepts him when he tries to walk in. “Hey, Doug. Maybe you should come back later, I don’t think now is a good time.” Eiffel’s frustration reaches a tipping point, and he stomps his foot to make it known. “I’m sick of no one letting me worry about him, he’s my friend isn’t he?! Dammit, I haven’t heard from him in almost a week and you tell me that you can check on him but I’m not allowed?? What kind of shit is that!” He pushes past Maxwell to walk into Dmitri’s office only to stop in the doorway.

It takes him a moment for his eyes to adjust, but when they do his heart aches in concern. It looks like Dmitri hasn’t eaten or slept since he left work six days ago, his hair still wet as if he just had time to shower and come to work with his clothes wrinkled and disheveled. He’s completely asleep, his head resting on his arms, and Eiffel has to keep himself from doing anything that might wake him up while he backs out of the room. He turns to Maxwell, who looks worried herself. “When did he get here?” “Not sure, maybe five minutes ago? I tried asking if everything was okay, he looks like he could drop at any minute, but he just said to knock on the door in fifteen minutes.” Eiffel starts to object when she stops him. “I’m not actually gonna wake him up, he looks awful! I’ll pretend I lost track of time. Look, Eiffel, I know you’re worried but can you just go home? I’ll keep you posted, I promise, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he’d rather you not dither over him right now.” His shoulders slump dejectedly, and he lifts his hands for a moment as if to say something with a worried look at his office only to nod, letting his hands fall to his sides. “Thank you. I’ve gotta get back to work, but like I said, I’ll keep you posted.”

Eiffel leaves, but instead of going home he waits around campus for the rest of the day until its 8 and the library is closing. He’s bouncing from one foot to the other on the sidewalk when Dmitri finally walks out of the building to lock up, freezing momentarily when he sees Eiffel. His eyes have dark circles under them, reinforcing the idea that he hasn’t slept, and his hands are a little shaky when he waves hello. Eiffel clenches his teeth, more out of worried frustration than anything, his hands flying while he rants in complete silence. “Do you have any clue how worried I’ve been? You look terrible! When did you eat last? Or sleep, for that matter! Why didn’t you text me back, you could have talked to me! Don’t look at me all concerned and confused like that, you don’t get to be worried! Ugh!” He stomps up to him, Dmitri’s expression of confusion just getting stronger until he locks up completely when Eiffel hugs him tightly, having to lean against him briefly when he’s thrown off balance. After a long moment he hears a faint “tk tk, tk tk tk tk” from behind his back and his phone goes off, forcing him to wrap his arms around Eiffel to see what he sent.

[Eiffel :)] :( I’ve been worried, asshole. What the hell?

He sighs and in a moment of weakness lays his head on Eiffel’s shoulder, just hugging him for a minute before replying.

[Dmitri] I’m sorry. My sister needed to have an emergency surgery, I have been with her since I found out.

He hears Eiffel exhale a little in surprise before leaning back to look at him for a second. He feels his eyes water when Eiffel suddenly pinches his cheeks gently, looking at him with an unreadable expression before letting him go completely.

[Eiffel :)] How is she?

[Dmitri] She is better, I came to work as soon as I was sure she’d be okay.

[Eiffel :)] You look like shit, by the way. When did you eat last?

Dmitri avoids looking him in the eyes after reading his text which is all the answer he needed. Eiffel huffs in frustration, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him along to the cafe while signing one handed as if he’s muttering to himself. Once they arrive he puts both hands on Dmitri’s shoulders to make him sit down, pointing at him glaringly until he holds his hands up in surrender before going inside. When he gets back with their food Dmitri’s fallen asleep again, so tired he doesn’t even move when a car honks its horn as it passes by. Eiffel thinks for a moment before gently patting him on the shoulder which wakes him up slowly. He looks at Eiffel in confusion before running a heavy hand over his face, smiling slightly in embarrassment.

[Eiffel :)] I’ll let you go home only after you eat, deal?

He laughs, and Eiffel holds out a hand for him to shake before putting a sandwich in front of him, sitting down to dig into an ice cream abomination. He feels like he’s being watched for a second and glances up to see a horrified expression on Dmitri’s face. He scrunches his face up defensively as his phone goes off.

[Dmitri] Just looking at that makes my stomach hurt. Why are you eating that??

[Eiffel :)] >:( I like sweets, asshole. Don’t judge!

The little laugh Dmitri gives, just barely audible to Eiffel’s ears, combined with the look of genuine amusement makes Eiffel forget where he is, reaching over to stroke his cheek before suddenly remembering and at the last second pinching it to hide his intentions. He gets a light kick under the table for it, which makes him laugh aloud before covering his mouth in embarrassment. Dmitri doesn’t seem to have noticed, thankfully, and in his relief he misses the way Dmitri’s hands clenched slightly or how he’s hoping Eiffel doesn’t notice his briefly lovesick expression.

Dmitri eats with an absent minded air, as if he’s just doing it to keep his hands busy, but Eiffel feels some satisfaction in seeing that he’s eating. He finishes his ice cream monster in record time, stretching his arms above his head before resting his chin in his hand and zoning out. He perks up when his phone goes off.

[Dmitri] How are you not vomiting?

He scowls up at him.

[Eiffel :)] It takes years of dedicated eating to develop a stomach strong enough to withstand that much ice cream. I’ve trained my whole life for this.

[Dmitri] A lifetime, wasted. What a shame. You had such potential.

Eiffel waits until Dmitri’s done eating before throwing a napkin in his face and getting up with a groan.

[Eiffel :)] If you’re done goofing off, lets go.

Dmitri rolls his eyes and follows suit, cleaning up their table and walking back to the library with Eiffel. He offers Eiffel a ride home, which Eiffel again rejects vehemently. Hesitating, he sends a message.

[Dmitri] Why not?

[Eiffel :)] I hate cars, remember?

[Dmitri] Yes, of course. But why?

Eiffel scuffs his feet on the concrete for a moment before replying.

[Eiffel :)] Its a long, depressing story.

Dmitri’s only response is to lean back against his car and look at him with an air of expectation. Eiffel throws his hands into the air and paces in a small circle, chaffing his arm with his right hand before looking at it and stopping in his tracks with a sigh.

[Eiffel :)] Fine.

[Eiffel :)] Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Doug who really liked not being around his alcoholic asshole of a dad. Daddy dearest got mean when he was in his cups, which was all the time, so whenever lil’ Doug got the first chance he ran away to join the army. It, ah. It didn’t end well. Dougie got blown to bits and was sent home to deal with it which meant not dealing with it at all. Instead, Doug decided that maybe dad had the right idea in drinking his problems away, and so he gave that a shot. And another. And another. Until one day, Doug had given himself waaay too many shots and decided to drive home. Or he tried, at least. Drove straight into an overpass- didn’t even see it- and now Doug pukes any time he has to ride in a car. Also, fun fact, sometimes when you hit something super hard you fuck your head up so badly you can’t hear anymore. Now lil’ Doug can only hear that people are talking, not what they’re saying, and that kind of fucking sucks. The end.

[Eiffel :)] Its my favorite bedtime story.

He’s still looking at his phone with a mixture of disgust and self-hatred when Dmitri pulls it out of his hand with gentle fingers and hugs him, leaning back against his car to support them both. Eiffel clings to him until he gets his emotions in order, letting go with a sigh to see Dmitri yawn and run a tired hand through his hair.

[Eiffel :)] Do you want to come stay at my apartment? You look exhausted.

Dmitri blushes to the roots of his hair and Eiffel flails his hands in his haste to reassure him.

[Eiffel :)] Not like that! I mean, you know, you could chill on the couch and in the morning we could go visit your sister? If you wanted?

He nods, still looking a little embarrassed, and Eiffel grins and shows him the way to their apartment. Part of his stipulation for moving was that it had to be walking distance from campus and thankfully they found one. He unlocks the front door and throws it open, making it bang against the wall loudly and Hera shouts from the living room, “Dammit, Eiffel!” Eiffel winks at Dmitri as Hera storms up before turning to her and mouthing while pointing at his ear, “Sorry, I’m deaf?” She groans in irritation, throwing the hairbrush shes holding at his head before seeming to notice Dmitri. She looks mortified, dressed in a matching pajama set covered in binary. “Eiffel, what on Earth are you doing?” He signs with the smuggest expression possible. “Oh, I just invited the object of my affection over to stay the night. Don’t worry, mom, he’s staying in the living room; I was worried about him driving while being so tired.” “Well, give a girl a warning next time, look at me! I’m in my binary pajamas, I would have worn my normie plaid ones if I had known someone was coming over. Now he’s gonna know that my pajamas spell pajama over and over and everyone is gonna find out what a weirdo I am. Thanks, Eiffel.” “You’re welcome.” She groans again, miming that she’s strangling him before turning to Dmitri and speaking. “Dmitri, did you want to shower? Cause if Eiffel gets to it first you’ll be taking a cold one, he’s a bit of a diva.” “Ah, thank you but thats not necessary. And I never would have guessed that Eiffel, of all people, was a diva.” She snorts with laughter, patting on the shoulder affectionately before signing to Eiffel, scolding him. “He doesn’t have anything with him, you didn’t bother thinking about what he’s going to sleep in, did you? Idiot. Go grab him some of your clothes, no guest in my house is gonna sleep in a suit like some business executive.” Eiffel scurries off and returns quickly with something for him to wear before letting Hera know that he’s gonna shower and they need to sign now or forever hold their peace about it. She flaps her hand at him and takes the clothes, turning to Dmitri and noticing his slightly nervous expression. “Ah, don’t worry. Eiffel likes to buy his clothes big so these’ll probably fit you just right. If you want you can go change in the other bathroom, its just through that door. Ignore the mess, I don’t remember to clean my room often.”

Eiffel forgets that Dmitri’s even there in the time it takes him to get out of the shower and rummage through the fridge for something to snack on before bed. He glances into the living room when he sees Hera double over with laughter and has to hide in order to get his heartrate back to normal. Eiffel’s the definition of lanky, but Dmitri is built far more stocky than he is, the poor shirt Eiffel gave him clinging to him like it was sewn on him. He’s laughing, though, taking it well, and Eiffel is incredibly grateful that his pajama bottoms are always the baggiest he can find because if they clung to Dmitri like his shirt Eiffel would drop dead on the spot. When he can finally walk into the living room without making a fool of himself Dmitri stares at him openly before suddenly looking everywhere but at him, making Eiffel look at himself in confusion. He wonders if its the fact that he’s got some pretty gnarly scars on his chest and shoulder from the bomb overseas that cost him his arm and left foot but then realizes its cause he’s shirtless, feeling blood rush from his chest to his head. Hera cackles madly at his embarrassment, signing, “Idiot, you forgot he was here didn’t you? Coming in here half naked. For shame!” Eiffel commits, determined to not show how mortified he is by pretending confidence. “Well, Dmitri is practically shirtless with that thing on him, so its fine.” “Yeah, well you can’t see the top of Dmitri’s boxers can you? Shameless.” Eiffel scowls at her and fixes his pants before sending a message to Dmitri.

[Eiffel :)] Hera says I’m a trollop, so I guess I gotta go to bed and think about my shamelessness. Night!

Eiffel goes to his room to scream into a pillow from embarrassment. The next morning he tiptoes into the living room to see that Dmitri is already awake and dressed, to his disappointment, sitting with his back to Eiffel’s room and reading on his phone. He creeps up behind him and rests his chin on top of his head to see what he’s reading, laying his arms around his neck. Dmitri goes perfectly still before tilting his head back to look at him in confusion.

[Eiffel :)] Whatcha readin? I’m dyslexic so I’m not positive if thats Russian or not.

He laughs, scrolling up to show Eiffel the bold text title, which is clearly in Russian now that Eiffel can see the big letters.

[Eiffel :)] How are things in the motherland?

He shrugs lightly.

[Dmitri] Its a recipe, so I couldn’t tell you the political climate from that. On the other hand, this honey cake sounds like too much trouble to make but I promised Olga I would bring her some for her birthday next week.

Eiffel unconsciously squeezes him around the neck in a hug before letting him go and stretching languidly.

[Eiffel :)] Well, can I come with you to meet her today?

He nods and Eiffel disappears into his room to get dressed. Even though its a long walk, Dmitri doesn’t seem to even notice and keeps pace with Eiffel, glancing at him curiously every now and then before sending him a message.

[Dmitri] How do you know which hospital Olga is in?

[Eiffel :)] Ermmmm, just cause?

[Dmitri] Eiffel.

[Eiffel :)] Okay, fine, I go to the same hospital to meet with my specialist for my bionics and ears. I may or may not have seen you the last time I came here. Maybe.

[Dmitri] Isn’t that a breach of privacy? I should sue.

Eiffel reaches over to pinch his cheek, laughing, and Dmitri finally asks why he does it. Eiffel just smiles, poking a finger into his own cheek like emphasizing a dimple before doing the same to Dmitri’s face. He grumbles in irritation but looks distracted when they walk into the lobby of the hospital. Eiffel calls an elevator and rocks on his heels, whistling tunelessly while he waits. Olga’s room is on the third floor, and Dmitri makes Eiffel stand for a moment outside before letting him in. She’s like a carbon copy of Dmitri, the same beautiful brown eyes and wild red hair that shows how curly Dmitri’s would be if it were long. She beams at them both, saying something in Russian to Dmitri before signing in American Sign Language to Eiffel after Dmitri steps outside to grab an extra blanket for her. “You are Eiffel! My brother has told me a lot about you, its nice to meet you.” Eiffel looks at her in surprise. “You know American sign? How?” “Mitya has been helping me practice, we hope that I will be able to go to college and learn there.” Eiffel feels ice run through his veins and his hands shake as he signs, slowly, “Dmitri knows American Sign?” Olga smiles, nodding, oblivious to the sinking feeling in his chest. “Please excuse me.”

He storms out, running into a surprised Dmitri and something in his expression makes Dmitri grab him by the arm in concern. He points an accusing finger at him. “You knew what I was saying this whole time, didn’t you? Were you.. were you just making fun of me this whole time? You knew and you were mocking me? I thought we were friends. ” Dmitri’s face flushes and he rapidly replies, giving away how long he must have been practicing. “No, never, of course we’re friends its just Olga wants to go to college so a few months ago I started learning but I thought you were just teasing me and I didn’t know how to tell you and I love you-” He freezes, staring at Eiffel in shock before quickly hiding his hands behind his back as if to take it back only to have Eiffel catch him by the wrist and look at him searchingly. “You love me?” He looks almost ashamed, but nods jerkingly. Eiffel doesn’t even hesitate, kissing him and grinning in delight at his dazed expression. “I love you too. Stupid, you should have said something. I’ve been all over you for months and you thought I was teasing you?” He nods weakly, still looking at Eiffel with that same dazed expression, making Eiffel kiss him again, taking his time before coming up for air and signing again, “Stupid. I love you.” The way he reacts to him saying it makes Eiffel’s heart squeeze, his expression a mixture of pure happiness and disbelief, so Eiffel keeps doing it until he laughs. “Hey, you asked earlier why I kept pinching your cheeks, right?” “Yes, you said something about sweet?” Eiffel grins, his expression more suggestive than Dmitri’s heart is prepared for. “Yep. You’re sweet, so thats why. Like I said before, I have a huge sweet tooth.” Dmitri inhales sharply and suddenly walks into Olga’s room, closing the door behind him.

[Eiffel :)] Too strong?

[Dmitri] Too strong. Give me a minute.

[Eiffel :)] If you keep being cute like that you won’t even get that much time.

[Dmitri] I’m locking the door.

[Eiffel :)] Ah no wait I didn’t mean it come on let me iiiinnnnn

[Dmitri] Promise to behave.

[Eiffel :)] I can’t make a promise I am inherently unable to keep, but I’ll promise to tone it down until later?

[Dmitri] Fine.

The first thing Eiffel does is introduce himself to Olga as Dmitri’s boyfriend, making her light up in delight and ask a mortified but happy Dmitri a million questions. Eiffel looks at him quizzically. “I dunno Russian whats she saying?” Dmitri’s face blushes even darker as he replies. “She wants to know when we’re getting married.” “As soon as I can find a minister.”

Dmitri covers his face in embarrassment, throwing the blanket he grabbed for Olga at Eiffel’s head while Eiffel laughs. “You are an awful man, Douglas.” “You love me anyway!” He sighs, looking at him with an expression of love and affection. “You’re lucky I do.”


End file.
